Ventimiglia tells Esquire Magazine new details around the death of his character Jack Pearson
Time

'This is Us' fans learned exactly how Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) died on an episode that followed the Super Bowl Sunday and with 27 million same-day viewers, easily doubled the show's biggest audience to date.(Photo: Ron Batzdorff, NBC)

The weepy wrap-up of an extended storyline on This Is Us — coupled with a huge lead-in from Super Bowl LII — boosted the NBC drama to a record audience of 27 million viewers Sunday, though the crowd for the game itself was far from a record.

Us more than doubled its previous same-day audience (12.9 million for September's second-season opener), and is likely to grow substantially when delayed viewing is counted, since the episode began at the late hour of 10:45 p.m. ET.

It marked the biggest post-Bowl program since 2012, when the second-season opener of NBC's The Voice averaged 37.6 million viewers. And it was the most-watched TV drama episode since 2008, when Fox's red-hot medical drama House notched 29 million, also after that year's Super Bowl.

The NFL championship, in which the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the reigning New England Patriots in a close match, claimed 103.4 million viewers, down more than 7 million viewers (or 7%) from last year to its smallest audience since 2009, amid declining ratings for the league. Last year's game claimed 111.3 million, while a record audience of 114.4 million tuned in for the 2015 contest.

Still, the game (barely) ranked among the top 10 telecasts in TV history, behind eight more recent Super Bowls and the 1983 series finale of M*A*S*H, which averaged 106 million.

Minnesota Timberwolves player Karl-Anthony Towns works as a photographer in the first half in Super Bowl LII between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports

Golden State Warriors player Stephen Curry stands on the sidelines prior to Super Bowl LII between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles at U.S. Bank Stadium. Brace Hemmelgarn, USA TODAY Sports